Disclaimer:

All KNB characters in this story belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi, creator of 黒子のバスケ/ Kuroko no Basuke / The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays.

A/N:

I've always been wanting to write an AU like this, so I hope that you guys would give this a chance and look favourably upon this story!

And did I mention that this story will contain dragons?

Lovely, beautiful, majestic dragons. Aren't they just awesome?

Please enjoy~

xx

(On a little side note, I am healing up well from my first ever surgery. Just a minor one. It would be nice if I could quickly recover fully!)

Kuroko hummed, his knife moving swiftly as he cleaned the bird he had caught. Beside him, there was already a large pile of prey all stacked up, just waiting to be cooked.

Today's hunting was good. Kuroko would not have to hunt tomorrow or the day after with this pile of food. Feeling really satisfied, Kuroko's knife made quick work of the bird.

"Done!" Kuroko sighed.

He stood up from where he was crouching, stretching himself.

A soft crooning came from behind him. Kuroko turned his head, and smiled at the large pair of golden snake-like eyes staring at him. Kuroko lifted a hand, and lightly patted the massive head of the beast.

The beast was completely black, except its eyes. The dark colour of its hide allowed it to blend into the dark forest when hunting, becoming nothing more than a shadow. However, in the bright light of the midday sun, the dark black scales took on a beautiful ethereal glow. Yes, scales.

The beast before him had scales, pure black scales that were so hard they could easily cut through diamonds. Those scales were the most fascinating thing Kuroko had ever seen so far, not just because of its colour. They were kind of similar to a cat's retractable claws. When the beast was relaxed, it was perfectly fine to touch it or run your fingers across the scales. However, should the beast become agitated, those scales would stand upright. A single careless touch is enough to rip a hand into pieces.

On all four of its legs, deadly sharp talons replaced its toes. They were thick, strong and large. One could easily tell that a sword was completely useless against such a formidable weapon.

The beast lightly pressed its head into Kuroko's chest, causing Kuroko to stumble back. But he did not fall; he was very familiar with the beast's strength, thus he managed to quickly stabilise himself.

The beast was a staggering ten metres tall, and was approximately 17 metres in length. Kuroko was nothing more than a fly to the beast, yet the beast was always very careful when it was around Kuroko. The beast was one who reigned over the legends of humans, becoming either their ultimate enemy, or their strongest ally.

This beast was a dragon.

A black dragon.

In this time where magic and knights were common, dragons of varying colours occupied many lands and willingly aided the humans.

So far, only five different dragon colours are known. Green, red, bronze, white and black.

Even among the dragons, there were ranks. Green dragons were the lowest, the weakest. And white dragons were the strongest. But there is an exception, the black dragons.

White dragons were regarded as royalty, and black dragons were the villains.

Black dragons were evil incarnate, so they say. They were vicious, killing humans and destroying mountains on a whim. They even killed other dragons that they dislike. Thus, even among the dragons, black dragons were not well received.

Black dragons were removed from the list of honourable dragons, they were nothing more than big prey for adventure teams to hunt down and kill.

But the reason why there were still so many of them was because they rivalled the white dragon in strength. Mature black dragons were even stronger than a white dragon could ever hope to be.

Therefore, when Kuroko had first found a tiny black dragon baby, he was forced into a complicated decision. Five years ago, Kuroko was hunting for prey when he stumbled across a baby black dragon. The baby dragon was a tiny little thing, barely reaching pass Kuroko's ankles. Not only was it tiny, it was clearly malnourished.

Kuroko had ignored the baby dragon at first, choosing instead to carefully scout around the area. Dragons lived in a world where the strong dominated the weak, very similar to humans in fact. Female dragons will often lay a clutch of eight eggs, and the first four to break out of the shell were guaranteed to be protected by the mother dragon. However, for the other four late boomers, it was a different story. The moment they were born, they were thrown into a harsh world of constant battle. The mother dragon would not feed the weak.

Therefore, it was no surprise if dragons were thrown out of the nest by their older siblings. But that also meant that there was a family of dragons nearby. Kuroko had no desire to be killed by a dragon, thus he made sure to search the area carefully before he even dared to touch the topic of what he should do with the baby dragon.

Once discerning that it was safe, Kuroko headed back to the baby dragon and proceeded to start a staring match with it.

The baby dragon stared back at Kuroko without fear. Dragons were extremely wise and had many powers. There was a power that even allowed them to see the future. Of course, a dragon would have to be extremely strong in order to use such a divine power.

Only white and black dragons were capable of seeing the future.

This little black baby dragon was too young for it to learn how to see the future, so Kuroko was a little reassured. At least he was confident that whatever choice he made, he chose it on his own, and was not influenced by the cunning dragon.

The baby dragon was young, but not stupid. Even at that young age, it already knew Kuroko was different from it. It knew that even in its weaken state, if it chooses to, it would be able to kill Kuroko. And it also knew that Kuroko knew what it was capable of.

Eventually, Kuroko heaved a soft sigh. With firm determination, he walked towards the dragon and picked it up. The dragon was startled at first, causing deep wounds – due to its scales – in Kuroko's hands before it calmed. Kuroko did not mind, such a reaction was among the things he expected. Though he was a little surprised at how fast the baby dragon realized the situation.

Kuroko lifted the baby dragon to eye level, and spoke to it.

"I do not know if you are capable of understanding human speech yet, but I simply want to tell you that from now on, I will be taking care of you. You do not have to worry, you are free. Should you choose to leave my side once you have gotten old enough, I will not stop you."

The baby dragon blinked its large eyes.

Kuroko gave the baby dragon a small smile.

The baby dragon suddenly spread its wings, and coincidentally (whether it was really just a coincidence though, Kuroko was very sceptical) the sun shone down on the dragon, causing it to glow.

And the baby dragon began to croon.

A bond was then formed between Kuroko and the baby dragon.

T.B.C